


The Old Spirits

by CalicoPudding



Series: Law of the Land - HQ Spirit Fic [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Crying, Earth Magic, First Meetings, Forests, M/M, Magic, Mountains, Pain, Spirits, Strangers to Lovers, Wind Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-18 22:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7333993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalicoPudding/pseuds/CalicoPudding
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Oikawa walks mere breaths above the ground, Iwaizumi plants his feet firmly, but leaves no trace. Where Oikawa is lighter than air, Iwaizumi is as heavy as the boulders that sometimes roll down the mountains. Where Oikawa can stir up winds mighty enough to rip the trees out of the ground, Iwaizumi can create chasms in the rock or start earthquakes on a whim. Oikawa’s voice is smooth, and it floats about empty space, Iwaizumi’s voice rolls, rumbling like a landslide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Old Spirits

**Author's Note:**

> So here's a bit of background for Oikawa and Iwaizumi, chronologically, this one is the first story.

“Who are you?”

Oikawa’s never seen this spirit before. There’s no way he’s an ordinary spirit, the lack of flowers knocks out the possibility of a forest manifestation. Besides, it’s too early for spirits to be manifesting themselves, Oikawa’s only just grown the forest, manifestation won’t happen for another few decades. And even when that does happen, they’ll isolate themselves until their numbers grow enough to build a province, no way this one would seek him out.

But it’s the presence that worries Oikawa.

He can feel it, the gentle but far encompassing presence that seems as immovable as the earth beneath Oikawa’s feet. He might even be as strong, or stronger, than Oikawa.

“I should ask you the same question,” the spirit replies easily. He doesn’t sound particularly rude, but Oikawa’s not exactly looking for utter submission.

“I am Oikawa, I grew this forest. Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“You grew the forest?”

“Yes.”

Oikawa doesn’t know if he should ask more questions or get hostile. He can do hostile, he can do violent. He’s an Old Spirit, and even if this newcomer is as powerful as Oikawa thinks, he has the sky and the forest on his side.

“I am Iwaizumi, I am here to create a mountain range.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

That confirms Oikawa’s suspicions. If Iwaizumi has enough power to raise a mountain range from the earth, then he’s most certainly an Old Spirit. There’s no harm in a mountain range, the forest is expansive and it’s not like he wasn’t expecting new features to shape the land. He just didn’t expect to come face to face with the spirit who was responsible. The most concerning thing is that if Iwaizumi’s raising mountains, then he’s well and truly aligned to earth. Oikawa’s aligned to wind, to the sky, but his power gives him dominion over the trees as well.

As they are, their opposing elements could cause catastrophic events. The distance they’re at now, Oikawa can’t even make out Iwaizumi’s facial features properly, is fine. But should Iwaizumi move closer, should they touch, the entire forest could be destroyed.

Oikawa doesn’t want to see his life’s work blasted away.

“Very well,” Oikawa says.

He thinks Iwaizumi smiles, but he’s walking off into the trees before he’s sure.

* * *

Oikawa watches from the highest tree he grew.

Iwaizumi’s been at work for a few days now, and the mountains are climbing higher and higher into the sky. There are no humans near the forest, but there will be settlements soon enough. The mountains will be done before then, there’s no question, but Oikawa’s grown inexplicably fond of seeing their progression.

When they’re finally done, Oikawa catches a steady breeze between the trees to see them up close. Iwaizumi’s sitting at the foot of the first range, in the same place they’d met, and Oikawa sits himself down in a tree.

“Will these allow earth aligned spirits to manifest?” he calls.

Iwaizumi doesn’t jump, but he does stand up and turn to face Oikawa. They both know well enough to stay where they are. It’s not an issue, the wind will carry Oikawa’s voice and bring Iwaizumi’s back.

“No, earth spirits haven’t naturally manifested in decades. If any spirits manifest in the forest, they might learn as a secondary alignment, but that’s it.”

Wind spirits manifest themselves all the time, a few every year or so. They usually start by plummeting out of the sky but that’s besides the point. If Iwaizumi raised the mountains in a vain attempt at urging secondary alignments, then it really isn’t a good sign.

“I’m sorry,” Oikawa says, it’s not like he can say anything else.

Iwaizumi just shrugs.

* * *

Oikawa takes to watching Iwaizumi, from a distance of course. There’s something fascinating about him. He has no flowers on him, and Oikawa’s never dealt with a purely earth aligned spirit, and an Old Spirit at that. He’s practically the exact opposite of Oikawa.

Where Oikawa walks mere breaths above the ground, Iwaizumi plants his feet firmly, but leaves no trace. Where Oikawa is lighter than air, Iwaizumi is as heavy as the boulders that sometimes roll down the mountains. Where Oikawa can stir up winds mighty enough to rip the trees out of the ground, Iwaizumi can create chasms in the rock or start earthquakes on a whim. Oikawa’s voice is smooth, and it floats about empty space, Iwaizumi’s voice rolls, rumbling like a landslide.

It’s fascinating

He’s pretty sure Iwaizumi knows, it’s a big forest and they could easily live out the rest of their days without ever seeing each other. The wind always follows Oikawa, it ruffles his hair and it’s easy to sense if there’s no other breeze anywhere else.

Iwaizumi knows, Oikawa knows that.

They both pretend the other doesn’t.

* * *

Oikawa takes a dip in the lake. It’s owned by a lovely water spirit with silver hair who’s charged with all the rivers, she’d been perfectly fine with Oikawa growing part of the forest around her water. She’s very friendly and very rarely leaves her lake, though Oikawa’s coaxed her out on land to dance with him once.

His flowers retreat as he slips further into the water, and the wind vanishes. He’s too light to do much, he can’t dive down and he can barely get his head wet, but it’s enough for him to float. He could easily pass years like this, drifting along without worry. It’s peaceful.

Until he crashes right into the edge of the lake. Swearing, he rubs his head and treads water properly, not that he really needs to.

He hears laughing and his first thought is that water spirits don’t usually sound so deep.

Iwaizumi’s sitting just off the shore line, laughing like he hasn’t got a care in the world. It’s a pretty laugh, definitely not as deep or dangerous as Oikawa would have assumed. There is, however, a slight tremor running through the ground from where Iwaizumi sits. Oikawa swims over to a softer part of the shore and props himself up on his arms.

“You find it so funny, you can come join me,” he calls. Iwaizumi takes his time calming down. The tremor comes to a stop and Oikawa finds he wants it back.

It was soothing, in a way.

“As nice as that sounds, I can’t.”

“And why not?”

“I’ll sink like a rock.”

It’s not entirely surprising, but Oikawa’s a little disappointed.

“Can you get wet?”

“Yes,” Iwaizumi sounds hesitant, like he might know what Oikawa’s thinking. Not giving him a chance to put everything together, Oikawa sweeps a sharp wind through the water, creating a wave that rises above the shore to drench Iwaizumi.

Then they’re both laughing.

* * *

It happens slowly.

Oikawa starts to test the distance. He comes closer every day, waiting for something bad to happen. A few strides from Iwaizumi and the mountains hum while the breeze becomes noticeable. One stride away, there’s a mild wind and the earth shakes slightly under their feet. An arm’s length away and it hurts to open their eyes against the wind beating down, Oikawa’s unaffected by the tremors as he never touches the ground, but the trees in the immediate vicinity fall down, roots up.

Oikawa stops after that. He keeps a safe distance. He swims in the lake and Iwaizumi sits on the shore with his legs in the water. They take walks and Oikawa shows Iwaizumi some of the flowers he’s cultivating. As animals arrive over the years, Iwaizumi teaches him how to speak to them. He’s not very good at it, animal speaking is an earth aligned trait, but he can understand a few things here and there.

“He says your hair looks funny,” Iwaizumi says one day, holding a small creature. Oikawa’s not entirely sure what it is, it’s some kind of ground rodent, he really doesn’t know.

They’re sitting in a small clearing. Oikawa’s been scouting out province areas, this one is the most promising. It’s equidistant from a river and from Iwaizumi’s mountains, it’s not quite centrally located but he likes that. He’s inspecting some flowers, he’d sensed some rot earlier in the day and wants to make sure it won’t spread.

“Has he seen yours?” Oikawa huffs. His reaction is enough to draw a short chuckle from Iwaizumi.

“He also says thank you for growing the forest.”

The little rodent jumps out of Iwaizumi’s hands and scuttles over to Oikawa, a small flower in his mouth. He leaves the flower on Oikawa’s knee before running at full speed back to Iwaizumi.

“Well, his flattery will allow him to stay I suppose.”

Iwaizumi laughs again and Oikawa wants to move closer. He wants to feel the rumble of it in Iwaizumi’s chest. But he’s too far away.

And he hates that.

* * *

The idea comes to him in the dead of night. He shoots out of his tree and goes off in search of Iwaizumi, stopping himself at the proper distance so fast he strains his neck. Not able to shake Iwaizumi awake, he directs a strong current of air in his direction, lifting him off the ground only to drop him back a second later.

Iwaizumi scrambles to his feet in an instant, ready to fight whoever it is assailing him.

“Oikawa? What do you want?”

“Partial kinship.”

“What?”

“We’re Old Spirits, so we can’t have total secondary alignments, but we can have kinship. Pact wise, we can do that.”

Oikawa’s out of breath, which is a new feeling for him, his cheeks are flushed and there’s a delirious light in his eyes. Iwaizumi’s only staring, slowly taking in the information he’s just been given.

“I- That could kill us, Oikawa- opposition this strong happens for a reason, if we even attempt-”

“It’s not for sure it could kill us!”

“But it could! Then what? You grew the forest and I made the mountains, the new manifestations will need someone who can teach them. If we’re dead, then what? Why would you even think about this-”

“I want to feel you laugh!”

There are tears in his eyes, and that’s not normal, but it’s definitely not new.

“I want to be able to hold you without worrying that I’ll destroy the forest! I want you, can’t you see that!”

Iwaizumi just stares.

* * *

It takes two and a half years. Two and a half years to wear Iwaizumi down enough. Two and a half years to get him to agree to kinship. Two and a half years of wishing and imagining what it would be like to finally be able to get close to Iwaizumi.

They have to leave the forest, leave the mountains, to get permission.

Secondary alignments can be chosen and taught to newly manifested spirits. Those who manifest in the forest will automatically have a forest alignment, but they can be taught a secondary element. Any more than that and they could become unstable. But it’s different for Old Spirits, they’ve existed since before the elements ever mixed. They simply don’t have the capacity for secondary alignments. But they can maybe have kinships. For them, that means a pact with the other element, they won’t get the abilities associated, but they won’t be opposed.

And that’s all Oikawa wants.

When it happens, Oikawa almost regrets his decision.

He’s not sure who’s screaming more; him or Iwaizumi? But it feels as though he’s being cut open and his insides are being scraped out. It feels like he’s drowning, like he’s falling, like he’s burning; all at once. The edge of his vision is black, and just as he’s about to back out, to stop this whole process and throw it away, it ends.

He collapses immediately, he can’t feel his legs, or anything else for that matter. He can’t hear anything either and his vision is blurry, the echoes of pain still ring out through his body. He heaves in air, he cries, he doesn’t even know how Iwaizumi is.

Oikawa comes to some hours later. He’s moving, being carried thinks, and when he opens his eyes he sees Iwaizumi there. There’s pain in his eyes, and his hands shake where they hold Oikawa, but he’s not letting go. Oikawa starts to cry, lifts his too heavy arms to wrap around Iwaizumi’s neck because he _can._ He can _touch_ Iwaizumi and nothing’s getting destroyed, there air isn’t beating down on them and the ground isn’t opening up to swallow them.

It feels right.

Iwaizumi keeps walking, he carries Oikawa all the way to the clearing before his strength finally runs out and he drops. The dull ache that comes when they hit the ground is nothing compared to what they’ve just been through, so Oikawa just winces and holds Iwaizumi tight to his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> If you guys are curious about anything, please ask! This story is totally up for reader dictation, so if you want to know how a certain character plays into the thing, you can ask on tumblr and that short will become top priority. The users are in my profile, and you can find more info on the blog!


End file.
